ryanjapantrip

Today started off around 8am. We all got dressed and packed up ready to go to our first town, Kamakura. I let Marc pick the restaurant for breakfast…yeah not doing that again. I got this cafe’s “signature” sandwich which was just a ham sandwich. One slice of ham that didn’t not even cover half the sandwich. We rode trains packed to the brim with people commuting to work. I chatted with a professional rugby player on the way. Her name was Tailor she was an absolute smoke show if only she was headed to Kamakura. We arrive at Kamakura station when disaster struck. Jose the master of delays had tripped and fallen down the last stair of the train station. I didn’t see it but everyone in the station could hear a loud thump. I turn around to find Jose face down on the ground in pain. We sat on a bench for about a half an hour waiting for the pain to subside. You’d figure he would tape his knee maybe take some Tylenol but no he just toughed it out. By tough it out I mean complain the entire rest of the day that his knee hurt while proceeding to trip and fall several more times. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and proceeded to the start of the Shrine hopping hike. We went to 5 different temples performing little rituals at each one. Most of the shrines are over a 1000 years old. I saw a Japanese murder hornet along the way which terrified a German couple as I announced its presence loudly after spotting it. Along the trail there were swarms of kids in school groups. Most of them practiced their English as we walked by saying hello, have a nice day, and the most common phrase 6/7 6/7. The tik tok trend is still alive and well. After the hike it was about 2:30 and we headed for Enoshima island. On the way we stopped for lunch where I had the local delicacy of a minnow rice bowl. An hour on a train packed like sardines later and we were there walking through a costal beach town crossing a bridge to a sacred island about the size of a small town. We had some beers while climbing flight after flight after flight of stairs knowing that each step up would be a later step down. We went around the entire mountainous island capturing the illusive view of Mt Fuji. In the cave at the very end of the island there is a cartoon looking dragon whose name translated to child death over the mountain. Back in the old times people of Japan would sacrifice their children to this dragon by throwing them over the mountain cliff… one couple was making out hardcore next to this child eating dragon. At this point I was 30k steps in and very hungry and it was about 7pm. Jose refused to let us grad some food there because his phone battery was running low and feared he would not be able to use his phone to get on the train. Apparently this guy has never heard of a credit card or cash. I tried to tell him that the food places would be closed by the time we got back….which they were, all of them. After waking around to places that Google or Apple Maps said were open and were actually closed, we found a place. I had a meatball and dumpling soup with cartilage. Now I know what you’re thinking that sounds nasty but it worked. The cartilage was in the meatballs and gave them a crunchy texture. After dinner we headed back to our samurai themed guesthouse where we’ll be sleeping on futons for the first time. I stayed up to work on some things on my computer but there was no couch, no lazy boy only some pillows on the ground. I have no idea how Japanese people sit criss cross Apple sauce all the time. I can make it maybe 10 minutes before my feet start going numb. As I was stretching out on my pillow I found that under the table there is a large drop off for this specific reason. I finished up and stepped over Marc and Jose (who is snoring extremely loud already) to make up my futon and go to sleep.